1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a heat sink apparatus. More particularly, the present invention relates to a heat sink apparatus used for the heat dissipation of computer chips.
2. Description of the Related Art
Among the prior art relating to heat sinks, a computer CPU (Central Process Unit) is usually installed together with an extrusion heat sink apparatus or a die-casting heat sink apparatus for heat dissipation. Referring to FIG. 1, the figure illustrates a perspective view of a square extrusion heat sink apparatus 01, comprising a fan 10, a square extrusion heat sink module 20 and a latch 30. In the figure, the base 21 of the square extrusion heat sink module 20 is directly in contact with the heat generating part 71 of the CPU 70. As a result, heat is dissipated immediately to the cooling fins 22. As the fan 10 generates airflow, it guides the airflow to the cooling fins 22 for heat dissipation. In the square extrusion heat sink module 20, the cooling fins 22 extend vertically from the base 21, except for the space across the middle reserved for fixing the latch 30. Together the individual cooling fins 22 form a square on the base 21. The square extrusion heat sink module 20 is mounted on the CPU socket 73 at the flange 72 positioned at both sides of the socket with the latch 30. By coupling the attachment holes 11 on fan 10 and the mounting holes 23 on the square extrusion heat sink module 20, the fan 10 and the square extrusion heat sink module 20 are connected.
FIG. 2 illustrates a perspective view of a die-casting heat sink module 40. The die-casting heat sink module 40 is often applied to notebook computers. The die-casting heat sink module 40 is a single-piece module die-cast. As shown in the figure, the attachment holes 11 on the fan 10 are secured to the mounting holes 41 on the heat sink module 40, and the latch 50 is used to secure the entire heat sink module 40.
Referring back to FIG. 1, the heat sink module 20 (FIG. 1) comprises a base 21, wherein one side is the surface from which the cooling fins 22 extend and the other side is in direct contact with the CPU 70. In this way the heat generated by the CPU 70 is dissipated evenly to the cooling fins 22. The fan 10 generates airflow towards the cooling fins 22 that dissipates heat. With the development of chipset technology, the size of chips is minimized. However, limited by factors such as standards of chipset pins and CPU sockets, current CPU size cannot be further reduced. The heat generated by a CPU comes primarily from the CPU chips not the entire CPU. The currently used heat sink module 20 is in contact with the full surface area of the CPU 70, instead of concentrating on the area where central CPU chips are positioned. As a consequence, it is unable to evenly dissipate heat from the chips of the CPU 70 and from the base 21 of the heat sink module 20 to the cooling fins 22, which results in unsatisfactory heat dissipation. In accordance with the prior art, the cooling fins 22 and the base 21 of the square heat sink module 20 often divert airflow against the fan 10, which also results in unsatisfactory heat convection. The invention provides a heat sink module that reduces the mentioned diverted airflow and accordingly serves to enhance heat dissipation capacity.
According to the concept mentioned above, the prior art heat sink module fails to offer an effective solution to the problem of uneven dissipation of heat from a CPU to the cooling fins. The heat sink apparatus disclosed in the invention provides a metal heat conduction column for heat conduction. The metal heat conduction column is a cylinder. The base of the cylinder covers exactly said heat generating part 71 of the CPU 70, not its entire surface area. As a consequence, the heat from the CPU 70 can be evenly dissipated through the metal cylinder. Furthermore, a plurality of cooling fins extend from the metal column and the cooling fins radiate from the cylinder, which enables it to dissipate heat generated by CPU 70 evenly to the cooling fins and facilitate heat dissipation efficiency.
According to the above-mentioned prior art, the prior art cooling fins 22 and the base 21 of the square heat sink module 20 often divert airflow that affects the performance of the fan 10. The invention further provides arc-shaped cooling fins radiating from the central metal cylinder. The current CPU 70 applies surface mount technology, SMT, in the heat generating part 71, which slightly protrude from the surface of CPU 70. In response to this design, the metal heat conduction column disclosed in the invention is in direct contact with the CPU 70, and arc-shaped cooling fins radiate from the edge of the metal heat conduction column. According to the principles of air dynamics, under said structure, the heat sink apparatus in accordance with the invention allows the airflow generated by the fan to circulate along the arc-shaped cooling fins. Furthermore, the gap between the lower edge of the arc-shaped cooling fins and the CPU surface improves the convection of the airflow.
Another purpose of the invention is to enhance the heat dissipation efficiency of the metal heat conduction column. One option of the invention regarding the metal heat conduction column is to replace the metal material with other more conductive metals such as copper, to improve conduction efficiency between the metal conduction column and CPU 70 and thereby facilitate the dissipation efficiency.
The invention provides a latch to mount the metal heat conduction column onto the CPU. The latch comprises a latch arm, a plurality of openings and at least one latch hole, in which said latch arm is secured to the socket of the CPU. Each of said openings correspond to the mounting holes of the heat sink module 64 and attachment holes of the fan 10. The latch arm is secured to the flange 72 at side of the CPU socket 73 as shown in FIG. 1. The fan 10 and the heat sink module 64 are thereby mounted onto the CPU with the latch and act as the heat sink apparatus disclosed in the invention.